Use a U-lock. You can pick one up for around $25 at any Pittsburgh bike shop. Don’t ever rely on just a cable lock to keep your bike secure; a cheap pair of bolt cutters and snip them in a second – reference this article.

Outside of the Hillman Library: this from wheel isn’t going anywhere! “Quick Release” means just that.

Secure the bike’s frame, if possible lock the wheels and the seat too. Your frame is the most expensive part of your bike so make sure to u-lock it to a secure object. Its not that hard to secure the wheels and seat too. [see the links below]. Anything not locked can be stolen (lights, bags, air pumps, etc.).

Don’t leave your bike in one place for long amounts of time, unless this place is INSIDE your house or office within sight. Unscrupulous eyes may be coveting a bike that’s locked in the same place day after day.

Lock to an object that’s not going anywhere. Signs may be loose. Railings may be broken. Trees may be cut. Do yourself a favor and double check that what you’re locking to is locked to the ground.

Take a picture of the bike & record it’s serial number. Join BikePGH’s free I <3 My Bike Program to join the PGH database of bikes.

[Opportunity to take action] Now that you’ve read these tips, its a great time to contact your council person and let them know that you want to see more secure places to lock your bike in your neighborhood.

Where to park your bike

Bike Pittsburgh has been working closely with the City of Pittsburgh to install bike racks throughout the city. We’re well on our way to providing sufficient, secure bike parking options to all Pittsburgh neighborhoods, however, there’s still a long way to go! If you would like to see bike racks added to your neighborhood, contact racks@bikepgh.org, and we’ll help you advocate for change.

Downtown

All of the Pittsburgh Parking Authority Garages have free sheltered bike racks, some even near an attendant. Click Here to see a map of all of the garages.

Century Building Bike Parking Facility on 7th St.

Century Building Bike Parking Center – The Century Building on 7th and Penn, Downtown offers secure covered bike parking inside repurposed shipping containers. For $100 per year, you can rent a space inside the container where only you and the other renters have 24-hour access. There is also a large number of free, outdoor covered bike parking spaces at this location as well. Click here for more details.

PGH Parking Authority 3rd Ave. Garage Bike Facility

3rd Ave. Garage Bike Parking Facility -This facility offers 50 parking spaces for cyclists, located only a block from Market Square . It includes two areas: a free, public area that offers a bike fix-it station and space for approximately 30 bikes, as well as a premium parking area available by annual lease ($100/year) that offers secure, weather-protected storage lockers and parking for up to 24 bikes. Click here for info about the project. Click here for leasing.

Valet Bicycle Parking & Event Parking

Yep, its a thing. BikePGH offers a Valet Bicycle Parking service for events – large, medium, small. In the program’s 7 year history we’ve parked thousands of bikes at dozens of different events. Make yours the next! Click here to find out more.

Pittsburgh’s Bike Parking Ordinance

Thanks in part to BikePGH’s advocacy, the City of Pittsburgh amended its Zoning Code in 2010 to incentivize the development of more quality bike parking in a more dense urban area. This amendment to the Zoning Code was a big step for the city, and actually allows developers to create new developments with relatively low mandatory minimum car parking to increase promotion of biking, walking and transit use. An Urbanist win no doubt! click here to read the City’s overview of the amended Zoning Code.

City of Pittsburgh Bike Rack Request Program

We worked with the City of Pittsburgh to create a bike rack request program; there’s even a program to request free on-street bike corrals.

Bike Corral in front of Double-Wide Grill on E. Carson St. One of 4 corrals in the city.

The only issue is, they’re currently focusing on installing bike racks along business districts that lost parking meters. In addition, they’ve also undergone some recent staffing transitions. Which all means that things are moving slowly.

That being said, you should let us know if you’d like to bring bike parking to a certain location and we can connect you with the advocacy community to get it pushed through.

Purchasing and Installing Bike Racks

Combined, the BikePGH staff has over a century-worth of experience parking bikes to all sorts of racks in cities around the globe. We’ve seen it all – the good, the bad, the ugly – and we’ll help you ensure that your facility is a shining example of secure bike parking ingenuity at its best. Call us for a consultation, 412-325-4334.

We work with the Minneapolis-based bike rack manufacturer, Dero. Dero builds commercial-quality bike parking solutions for municipalities, universities and businesses throughout the country (the City of Pittsburgh purchases all their racks through them). As an added bonus, your purchase of a Dero bike rack helps support BikePGH’s advocacy and programing efforts. We appriciate your support, and we look forward to bringing more quality bike parking to the Pittsburgh area.

There’s different routes to installing bike racks on public vs. private land. Click here to find out all you need to know about buying and installing bike racks.